I’ve heard this story repeated many times, but now I’ve been able to track down a little more information. The story goes that Commodore Cappy was talking to Vivian Vulture about Valentines Day. Vivian told the Commodore that she wasn’t going to get any Valentines and that she had never received one. Of course this […]
This is a bit of a holiday tradition for kids that grew up in Minnesota. Clellan Card’s annual performance of A Night Before Christmas!
Here’s an old kinescope from our friends at the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting. Mary Davies sings Sleigh Ride from the 1954 program Country Holiday. Mary would go on to play Carmen the Nurse on WCCO with Axel and Clancy and Willie MARY DAVIES “SLEIGH RIDE” 1954 from Pavek Museum on Vimeo.
Here’s a popular WCCO holiday special from 1974 featuring Dave Moore and many other WCCO personalities. Thanks to WillG for posting this on YouTube
Here is a very rare home movie from 1964 of the Minneapolis Aquatennial Parade. At about the 6:30 mark there are a few seconds featuring WCCO’s Axel.
Back in 2000, Tony Ducklow hosted his own kid’s show in Minneapolis called Captain McCool and Friends. The show was broadcast on several community access channels in the Twin Cities. Tony grew up watching Casey Jones and Clancy and Willie, and the Captain McCool show was an homage to those earlier programs. In 2001, Allan […]
Our friends over at TCMediaNow.com have a regular podcast called Flashback. The most recent podcast features WCCO’s Allan Lotsberg and Bud Kraehling. Alan talks about the early days of the Clancy and Willie show as well as creating Vivian Vulture on the program. Bud talks about working with Dave Moore and preparing the weather […]
John Gallos is best known to viewers as Clancy the Cop on the long running Clancy and Willie show on WCCO television. His career spanned more than 40 years at WCCO and included news, public affairs, and religious programming, in addition to children’s shows. Gallos was born in 1923 and grew up in Minneapolis. He graduated […]
Commodore Cappy featured a rabbit puppet named Bats Bunny. Bats was described as “the younger and less famous brother of Bugs.” John Gallos created the puppet from a stuffed rabbit dressed in a baseball uniform, which belonged to his daughter Nancy. Sources: “Gallos brought puppets to life” St. Paul Pioneer Press Nov 19, 2005
Steve Cannon is a Minnesota broadcast legend. His career spanned over 40 years, but he is best remembered for his long running program “The Cannon Mess” on WCCO radio. The drive time show ran for 26 years and featured Cannon and his alter-ego creations Morgan Mundane, Ma Linger, and Backlash LaRue. All of the characters were […]